Category: Lollipop

Along with the Galaxy Note 5 launch today, Samsung also added to their edge lineup of devices. The new Galaxy S6 edge+ is a larger, 5.7″ HD display version of the S6 edge. Internally it is identical to the Note 5 which makes sense both from a production perspective (same components on two devices equals lower production costs) and for consumers (want a stylus or the edge component?). Like the Note 5, The Galaxy S6 edge+ is available for preorder now and will start shipping on August 21st. It will come with 32GB of storage for $814.99 while the 64GB will cost an eye watering $914.99. They can be preordered from AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile and retailer Best Buy.

Yesterday HTC announced that starting today the HTC One M9 would start receiving the Lollipop 5.1 update via an OTA (Over-the-air) update starting today. It looks like they have kept to their word. Users across Europe, the Middle East and Africa have started receiving the update to their devices and all the benefits of the latest version of Android. It’s good news for owners of the device as it brings them inline with the North America which has already seen the Lollipop rollout start.

Today Google published their latest Android Dashboard and it showed a healthy jump in the adoption of Android Lollipop. The latest version of Android is now running on 18.1% of all Android devices, up 5.7% over the June report. This is good news for developers and consumers alike as more devices are seeing updates to Lollipop or are now shipping with it as their installed OS level. And while many will contend that fragmentation is an issue for Android, the numbers released by Google seem to indicate it isn’t as big a deal as some might think. Indeed the numbers for versions older than KitKat, the previous version prior to Lollipop, all saw drops in installs.

For those who have the AT&T version of the Nexus 6, it’s a good Wednesday morning for you. The Lollipop 5.1.1 update is starting to roll out from the US carrier, following in the footsteps of Sprint and US Cellular who have already released the update (see my article on why I think Android Lollipop updates are broken and this delay is a good example). The update is coming via an over-the-air (OTA) update and is 81MB in size according to the AT&T site. Interestingly, the site also points out that the OTA update will slowly ramp up over the course of the week. That means if you check for an update on your Nexus 6 and don’t see it, try again later as it may just not be to you yet.

If you have a Samsung Galaxy S6 or Galaxy S6 Edge and use T-Mobile as your carrier here in the United States, today is a pretty good day. The Lollipop 5.1.1 update is streaming down to your device starting today and with it comes several bug fixes and feature improvements to make the experience a bit better. The update is coming via OTA (over-the-air) so you can either wait for your Galaxy S6 to let you know the update is available or you can force the issue. Go to Settings>General>About device>software update and manually check to see if the update is there for you. The update is a bit slow in rolling out so you may have to check a few times but you will get it soon.

AT&T has announced that the Samsung Galaxy S6 Active will be coming to the carrier this week on June 12th. For those who aren’t familiar, the Active is a more durable version of the Galaxy S6 lineup and follows in the footsteps of the Galaxy S5 Active from last year. This new, updated version sports dust and water resistant design (but not waterproof) for those who are on the go. The Galaxy S6 Active sports some nice features including a 5.1″ HD AMOLED display, a 3500 mAh battery for all day performance and a 16MP rear facing camera.

Last week I posted that OnePlus, the Chinese manufacture who produces the OnePlus One, announced a sale at specific times all of last week. Now the company has made those price drops permanent for everyone. Starting today you can get the 16GB model of only $249 while the 64GB model is $299. For the quality of the OnePlus One and the specifications, this is absolutely a steal and I personally cannot recommend this phone highly enough. It has become my daily driver since my review of it and while I’m anxious to see what the anticipated OnePlus Two will offer, I’m quite pleased with the One and its performance.

Google has released an updated version of the Android System WebView app that addresses several bugs around inline video playing and graphic driver bugs. What is Android System WebView you ask? It is actually installed on every Android device and it a Chrome powered application that allows Android apps to display web content. It is an update that everyone should make sure they have installed on their devices, particularly if you have had some troublesome apps that won’t display web content or display it properly. The new version is, wait for it… 43.0.2357.121.

Also note that this update is only for devices running Lollipop 5.0 or higher. If you are on KitKat or older, you will not see this update.